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Blue suburbs still struggling with President-Elect Trump

Five days after Donald Trump upset Hillary Clinton, some of those who live inside the Washington, D.C. Beltway and supported Clinton were still trying to figure out what happened, struggling with the results of the race for the White House that many never really imagined would happen.

“It’s not just Republican versus Democrat,” one person told me, “It’s that Donald Trump is a complete embarrassment.”

“Why were the polls so far off?” one neighborhood dad asked me as we watched our kids on Saturday, as he was still puzzled by the result.

One guy I know runs a small business just outside D.C.; he said Wednesday was like a ghost town, as only a couple people came to his store all day in a crowded suburban shopping area.

“We made $100,” he said, as he told the story of a woman who came in on Thursday to shop, and explained why she hadn’t made it out of the house on the day after Trump’s win.

“I was crying my eyes out all day,” she explained.

And that’s a reaction I’ve heard from others – multiple times – in this area as well.

Some schools in D.C. area were also still trying to sort out things out, as one local elementary school principal emailed an election review to parents – from the National Association of School Psychologists.

“The 2016 election has been long and fraught with strong emotions,” the NASP note began.

That echoed a note sent out by one county school superintendent in Maryland.

This election season has been particularly difficult,” wrote Jack Smith, the Superintendent of Schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. “It caused a great deal of emotion among many members of our community.”

This wasn’t something just sent to families by email, as the school system posted the entire letter on their website and social media:

A letter from Dr. Smith went out today regarding how we're helping staff & students process the outcome of the presidential election. pic.twitter.com/hZ63uV9YNP